Industry heavyweights converge at Ozwater’18 to share key insights

Posted 7 May 2018

We’re only a day away from the start of the highly anticipated Ozwater’18 conference, which provides an opportunity like no other to learn from inspirational international and national keynote speakers, among others.

The keynotes will be spaced out over the three days of Ozwater’18 and the speakers’ diverse range of experiences and attitude of pushing the boundaries within their fields was the reason behind their selection to speak to the theme.

Dr Adriana Marais (Tue, 8 May)

Theoretical Physicist, Head of Innovation at SAP Africa and Aspiring Extraterrestrial

Dr Adriana Marais’ session will cover her research in quantum biology and the origins of life, the technology required to sustain terrestrial life on Mars (she’s currently one of the 100 Mars One Project astronaut candidates in the running) and the various projects aiming to send crewed missions there. She will describe how the establishment, and potential discovery of evidence of, life on Mars would be one of the most profound possible contributions of science to humanity.

Dr Alan Duffy (Tue, 8 May)

Associate Professor at Swinburne University

As an an astrophysicist creating baby universes on supercomputers to understand how galaxies like the Milky Way form and grow within vast halos of invisible dark matter, Dr Alan Duffy will explain the latest in science discovery in his session. With multiple awards under his belt, Duffy is also an Associate Investigator in two ARC Centres of Excellence investigating the origin of matter (ASTRO3D) and seeing the Universe with gravitational waves (OzGrav). Attend this keynote to hear his simple explanations of complex scientific theories.

Mark Pesce (Wed, 9 May)

Leading futurist, author, entrepreneur and innovator

Celebrate Australia's newest inventions and inventors with Mark Pesce. A highly regarded speaker, Pesce will entertain and inform on the future of technology, media, government, health care and education, given his history in co-inventing VRML, a 3D interface to the internet and authoring six books including The Playful World: How Technology is Transforming Our Imagination and VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace.

Marita Cheng (Wed, 9 May)

2012 Young Australian of the Year and Founder and CEO aubot

Cheng will be presenting on robotics and the future of work. She’s the founder and CEO of aubot (formerly 2Mar Robotics), which makes a telepresence robot; and for Teleport, for kids with cancer in hospital to attend school, people with a disability to attend work and to monitor and socialise with elderly people. As well as telepresence robots, Cheng does research and development in robotic arms, virtual reality and autonomous mapping and navigation and will share her expertise in this area.

Dr Paula Robinson (Thur, 10 May)

Managing Director, Positive Psychology Institute

Dr Paula Robinson will drive her presentation around the topic of creating habits of mental fitness for personal wellbeing. Prior to becoming a psychologist, Robinson had 12 years experience as a senior manager, so her session will mesh her practical knowledge in strategic planning and implementation, business development, staff recruitment/retention, advertising, marketing, and sales with psychology for strategic positive change.

Professor Zhiguo Yuan (Thur, 10 May)

Director, Advanced Water Management Centre

Professor Zhiguo Yuan has been a highly active and influential researcher in wastewater and water management for over 20 years. As one of the most influential engineers in Australia, Yuan will address his leadership journey in the water industry, highlighting the reason behind his shift in career (from aeronautical engineering to wastewater management), joining the Advanced Water Management Centre at the University of Queensland, founding three biotechnology businesses and his research initiatives both in Australia and internationally.

To ensure you don’t miss a thing, download the program guide from here.